FOR nearly 30 years, the iron-hulled SS Manxman carried more than 2,000 passengers daily across the Irish Sea.
Now, it seems as if the Birkenhead-built vessel, Britain's last operational steam-powered ship, could soon be making her final voyage - to a scrapyard.
Despite efforts to save her, it looks as if time is running out and a charity set up solely to preserve her say they need between £50,000-100,000 to prevent her from being salvaged in weeks.
Bill Ogle, the secretary of the Manxman Steamship Company, a registered charity, said: "This vessel is an important part of the Mersey's maritime history. But, unless we get some money quickly, she could well be lost for ever."
The Manxman was the last of eight near-identical ships, built between 1936 and 1955 by Cammell Laird Shipbuilders and Engineers, and was launched on February 8, 1955.
For the next 27 years, she ran services all over the Irish Sea for the Isle of Man Steam Packet Company, returning to Birkenhead each winter for an overhaul.
During her illustrious history, she was certificated to hold more passengers than any other British registered ship, including the giant Cunards, the Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth.
At this time she would regularly carry 2,383 passengers with 68 crew.
But 22 years ago, she was decommissioned and since then, has been used as a visitor centre in Preston and, for two years, as a nightclub at Liverpool's Trafalgar Dock.
However, the vessel which has also starred in several films, including th"SOS Titanic" and "Chariots of Fire", has been in dry dock in Sunderland since 1997.
Two years ago, the Manxman Steamship Company, was set up in an effort to try and save her.
But they say they have now been told by the yard holding her that if she is not moved within weeks she will be refloated on the next suitable high tide and scrapped.
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